Fried Birds, Broiled Fish
by UnendingEmpire
Summary: At the turn of the year in Gensokyo, a fated encounter between two stall vendors happens in the middle of nowhere. How well can a night sparrow really get along with a yakitori vendor, and how well can the latter enjoy a person who doesn't even like to look at Mokou's favorite food in the world?


**Well, it's back to Gensokyo with me~**

**I've been spending too much time writing these Tohohana fics, and I figured that it's about time for me to kick back to classic Touhou. I was reading a particularly interesting fanfic by Slothful Simple Man just recently, and had the idea to do one starring Mystia. Since I like having two characters star, though, I needed a second. Since she's a yakitori vendor, I figured it'd be fun to add Mokou in. It could become a very interesting relationship if I let it work itself out.**

**The night sparrow (who drops quite the anime reference in this chapter) paired up with the yakitori vendor. I know it's not the first time these two were paired together, but there aren't many fics starring Mystia if my instincts are pointing me in the right direction. On the note of my favorite characters not appearing often…**

**Did you know that there's only one story on FF (I checked maybe a week ago) where the main characters are Sanae and Kogasa? And I'M the one who wrote it? Come on, guys! Where are the KogaSana pairings!?**

**=.= well, that's life I guess. I hope you enjoy reading this zany start to a humorous and fluffy fic as much as I enjoyed writing it :D**

* * *

Winter in Gensokyo. A blanket of snow not much deeper than one's ankles covered the land of illusions in its typical cold beauty. Quite possibly not the finest season for stall vendors, much less ones who happened to also be youkai of the avian variety, but there was one such person - a seller of grilled lamprey and eels among other fried goods - whose determination far outshone any weakness to the cold she may have had. This was one Mystia Lorelei, bringing her wheeled stall about as always around and throughout the Forest of Magic where she knew she'd get plenty of customers. Due to the frosty conditions, her wings and ears were covered to keep them from freezing. Indeed, she'd special requested a winter suit from the kappa some weeks ago, and the cold no longer meant anything to her.

Thus, she was free to sell her wares as though it were any regular day. Today, however, she'd find something most unexpected. Face-down on the snow-covered ground, spotted only by her red pants and charms of the same color in her hair, was a person! She seemed to be unconscious. Business was a bit slow today, and saving this person from probable freezing and/or starving to death was easily a good way to earn some money, but Mystia was too kind in nature to charge a person for a live-saving meal. The dirtiest thing she did as far as business went was robbing people of their vision in the night, then "curing" them with her lamprey. Even if was one of three customer's she'd probably see in this chilly weather, Mystia was willing to offer her food free of charge to somebody in a dire situation.

"U-Um…are you alright down there?" Best to make sure they were still alive, first. She was answered with unintelligible and muffled groaning. If the words she could make out meant anything, this stranger was saying something about a princess and some kind of losing streak, and how it was only because of the cold weather. "Oh, thank goodness you're alive! I would have panicked if I found a dead stranger on the ground! Ha-ha-ha!"

"I'm afraid that's rather impossible," the stranger said, getting up to her feet. "A stall vendor, huh? Even in the winter?"

"Yes indeed, ma'am. Even if customers aren't as common during the colder months, it's important to make sure the ones I _can _find know that I'll keep my business running no matter the weather! Rain or shine, sleet or hail, I'll never let my business lose to the weather. You look hungry, though. Order what you want; it's on the house since you look about ready to starve to death."

"That's pretty bad business practice," this stranger said, looking over the menu at hand. "I hope you don't give _everybody_ free meals."

"Certainly not. Just the ones who look like they'll die if they don't eat something."

"I'd just give them half-off," this person said. "Name's Fujiwara no Mokou. I'm a stall vendor, not unlike yourself. And your name is?"

"Mystia Lorelei. So, do you know what you'll order?"

"No yakitori? Damn…" There was a reason Mokou's own stall specialized in yakitori. It was her favorite. "I guess I'll have the lamprey, then. I'm not fond of most non-bird meats, but it's rude to turn down a meal when somebody's trying to save your life."

"Lamprey it is, then~" The comments about yakitori and bird meat unnerved Mystia a little, but she didn't want to look bad in front of a customer. Much less, one who was a fellow stall vendor! There were a fair few of them in Gensokyo, but even then, it was hard to meet each and every one. Because of that, it wasn't really that surprising that Mystia had never met this Mokou person. When she started preparing her lamprey, a second thing occurred that Mystia wasn't eager to confess to. This one, however, was pretty important. "U-Um…it appears as though my grill is having issues starting up. Sorry; this happens now and then in the winter. It should just be a-"

_Snap._ The pointer finger and thumb of Mokou's left hand snapped, her right hand holding her head up with its elbow on the stall's counter. With that snap of her fingers, the grill behind Mystia burst into high-quality flames, and the sounds of a crackling fire and the resounding _WHOOSH_ of the ignition were clearly heard.

"**GYAAA!**" Mystia jumped at the grill suddenly starting. That never happened. She really needed to have a kappa look at the grill. "W-Well, it seems the fire's going strong! Your lamprey should be done in no time!"

"Your welcome."

"Huh?"

"For the fire. I snapped my fingers, and lit up your grill. Your welcome."

"_You_ did that? Oh, thank you! You wouldn't believe the trouble this grill gives me in the winter!"

"Don't mention it. Maybe someday, you should come down to my yakitori stand."

"Y-**YAKITORI!?** O-Oh, I'm s-sorry, but I-I can't eat yakitori! I-It's…against my religion!" This woman sold _yakitori_ of all things? Mystia was getting nervous. If she was a yakitori vendor who could light up Mystia's grill with a snap of her fingers, would it be out of the question to say that Mokou could turn the night sparrow into her day's stock? Only after panicking for a few seconds did she remember that her wings and ears were concealed by her clothes. She'd be fine for now, right?

"Can't eat yakitori, huh? What kind of religion is that?"

"Oh! I-It's a, really rare religion! W-We follow the teachings of the Gospel according to Saint…um…"

"You forgot your own saint's name? You're _so _faithful."

"Seiya! That's right! Saint Seiya!"

"Seiya? I think I heard Kaguya mention a Saint Seiya before…"

_Gulp._

"I guess she doesn't eat yakitori, either. Figures she'd be into some kind of crazy religion like that. Oh, well. Her loss." Looking behind Mystia at the food she was preparing for a Mokou who was implied to be starving to death, the phoenix girl asked "Is lamprey supposed to look like that?"

"Huh? Oh, no! I burned it!" Quickly grabbing the lamprey with the nearest utensil handy, Mystia wasted no time in grabbing a plate, setting it in front of Mokou, and putting the lamprey right there. "I'm so sorry! I've just had a really bad day and the yakitori comment just threw me right off guard! I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine." Taking the first bite of slightly-charred lamprey, Mokou let it sit in her mouth for a little bit. She bounced it around on her tongue a little bit, then proceeded to chew it down and swallow the bite she'd taken. For a few seconds, the stall was filled with absolute silence. Mokou couldn't tell by the look on Mystia's face (Keine had said several times that Mokou had to work on reading body language) that the seconds felt like years to Mystia, who was probably just hoping to not get incinerated for serving bad lamprey. "…this isn't bad."

"R-Really? Whew! I'm glad you think so!" That was a load off of Mystia's chest. "Yes," she said, about to do something stupid by bringing back up a lie Mokou seemed to have totally forgotten. "I sell lamprey because it just so happened to be our Saint Seiya's most revered animal, so his worshippers value its meat above all others!"

"…but if your saint liked lamprey, why are you killing and roasting them for financial gain?"

"Huh!? W-Wait, that's not what I meant! I'm sorry, I'm getting my own religion mixed up! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! I meant to say lampreys were his most bitter enemy!" Even an idiot could tell she was just making stuff up at this point in a desperate attempt to not have her cover blown, both as a night sparrow and as a liar. A heretical one at that, for lying about her own religion. "So since he despised them so, we-"

"Sell them? But is it really okay to sell an unholy fish to unknowing customers?"

"I-I'm sorry, I keep getting the story wrong! I've been told plenty of times that I'm a real birdbrain! …w-wait, I don't mean a _BIRD_brain! Just that…u-um…"

"Quit beating around the bush," Mokou said, taking down another bite of lamprey. In Mystia's panicked ranting, there was plenty of time to eat up. Her meal was nearing its end. "You shouldn't make up a religion just to cover your lie. Even I can tell by now that this whole Saint Seiya religion of yours is made-up, and I don't like people making things up just to hide the truth."

"**I-I'M SO SORRY! PLEASE SPARE ME!**"

"If you didn't like yakitori, you could have just said it to my face. I wouldn't be offended at all."

"…what? O-Oh, I mean…of course. I just got nervous; I was afraid you'd cook me alive. Ha-ha!"

"Why would I do that?"

"**NO REASON! NO REASON AT ALL!**"

"…okay, I guess?" To say that this Mystia person was strange was a bit of an understatement. If Mokou had to place a guess based on her horrible lack of any ability to read a person, she'd say that Mystia was completely insane and paranoid. She seemed to be a pretty decent cook - even when it was burnt dish that Mokou didn't like much to begin with, the lamprey tasted pretty good - but how did she deal with customers if she was afraid they were all going to kill her? "Say, are you setting up your stall at the Human Village tomorrow? New Year's Eve and all that?"

"Oh, yes of course! I never miss that!"

"Maybe I'll meet you there."

"O-Oh, I-I doubt it! I m-mean, after all the Human Village is a r-really big place!" It seemed that every time Mystia let her guard down and no longer feared getting cooked, Mokou had just the right thing to say that would place her back in fear of becoming yakitori. Hopefully, Mystia didn't have any other customers like this today…

* * *

**Late that night; Mystia's residence…**

"It was so slow today," Mystia said to herself, sounding pretty upset as she hung up her clothes on the rack next to the door. "And that Mokou was really scary. I was afraid I'd become yakitori at any moment. I really hope I don't meet up with her again tomorrow…" One customer that made Mystia afraid for her life was enough for the entire year. Some pretty shady characters came to her stall when she did night hours during the weekends, but none that made Mystia quite as scared as Mokou. Maybe because none of them ran yakitori stands."

* * *

**Meanwhile, at the Human Village's schoolhouse…**

"You sure come here a lot to help," Keine said. "I appreciate the assistance. Thanks."

"It's nothing. So, are you watching the fireworks tomorrow?" Keine never missed a fireworks show, especially the ones on New Year's Eve. Mokou often helped set up and light them, so she wasn't able to tend to her yakitori stand after the show started. She'd tried doing both once and nearly burned down an innocent bystander's house.

"Tomorrow, let me see…oh. I'm afraid I can't be here tomorrow night." Full moon. It would be troublesome if she transformed right in the midst of all the humans. Her being a were-hakutaku wasn't really common knowledge, though the people growing old in the village sometimes asked how Keine retained her youth so perfectly. She was really aging; just way slower than any human could think.

"Right. I forgot. Well, if anything funny happens, you know I'll cover it for you." Mokou's immortality wasn't really a secret in the village, but because of it, most people didn't trust her beyond being a guardian for the Human Village. She didn't care. Not like she wanted to be their friend, anyway. She had no problem with interaction, but friendship was a different beast entirely. "Say, you know lots of stall vendors, right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"How much do you know about a Mystia Lorelei? She seems kinda…jumpy."

"Oh, her? She used to eat humans only, but I've since taught her better ways to live life. These days, she's almost like another member of the big extended family called our village."

"She was a cannibal?"

"What?"

"Hold on. Are you implying that Mystia's not human?"

"Of course. She's a night sparrow youkai."

"Night sparrow, eh?" _Interesting…I bet that would make for pretty good yakitori. Plus, I'd get rid of the competition. Talk about killing two birds with one stone…three since she's a bird herself._ The next time Mokou met up with Mystia, she had plans. Mokou wanted to kill three birds with one stone…

Or even better. One well-placed fireball.

* * *

**So yeah. It doesn't sound like it'll be fluffy right now, but it really will.**

**Mokou and Mystia as a pairing have a sort of similar feel to Meiling with Flandre, Cirno, etc. That meaning that Mokou is sort of like a kind onee-san to Mystia, but whether or not this idea holds true in the fanfiction is yet to be determined, lol**

**There's this especially cute image that used to be on Danbooru and Safebooru where Mystia is giving Mokou a box - maybe takeout, but I'm not sure - but overshoots the delivery and smashes Mokou's face in with the box of food, lol. I'd like to have a scene kind of like that. Also, this next part of the note goes out to fans of the anime Working.**

**When thinking Mokou/Mystia, I like to think of pairings for both Inami/Souta AND Poplar/Kotori. The former in that Mystia is scared of Mokou but doesn't want to leave her for whatever reason. The latter really references Poplar's admiration for Kotori, with Mystia possibly having a similar admiration for Mokou when she learns that the phoenix-possessed girl really isn't as scary as Mystia initially thinks.**

**These are two of my favorite IN characters, so it's good to see them together. Maybe if I do another Gensokyo fic, I'll pair two PCB characters~**

**YOUMU X LYRICA! Just fucking 'cause!**


End file.
